Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for working out. Just what I needed!
Review: I was looking for something that was compact and would not get in the way while powerwalking or doing any exercise. The armband is perfect! It is a rugged little thing too. I loaded it to capicity with WMA files since the only problem with the thing is you must purchase the MP3 driver seperatly. After spending about $200 bucks you think that could be part of the package? The earbuds are good also and not bulky at all. I don't have any trouble hearing any traffic around me at all. They joystick makes it easy to shuffle thu songs while you are moving. It has a stop watch and an fm radio none of which I have used but it is nice to know I could if I wanted too. It is water proof to a degree but if I am out in the rain i put it in under my rain gear just in case. Before purchased I did much research.I am glad I got this unit. the only other neg. is the color is a nasty green. I'd like pink if I could pick but the color wasn't the mission for the player. If you workout a lot and you want a good player this is where you should go! I use to have a cd player in a fanny pack. I use less batteries (only takes 1 AAA) and it is just so much more comfortable time just goes by so fast!
Rating:
Summary: Great portable player
Review: I use the Cali to playback 96kps talk radio files. I get 8hrs of playback with no problems. Good sound and easy to transfer files. Perfect for my needs at work.
I also jam it full of oldtime radio shows. Handles the low bitrate files just fine. A lot of play time on ONE AAA battery!
Rating:
Summary: Best one in its class!
Review: Well, let me just begin this by stating that the first MP3 player I had was the Nike one... at the time I thought it was great, but it quickly fell apart and had few options so I searched around and purchased the Rio Cali 128mb. This thing puts the Nike Mp3 player to shame. It has 10 times the options for slightly lower price. The BEST thing about it is the adjustable EQ, that was a big deal to me, the tuner and the stop watch are also great additions and the buttons are all very ergonomical, and easy to use without looking. I do like the fact that the display is backlit in blue as well. I took the memory card out of my palm pilot and put it in the Rio Cali and it worked perfectly so I can get two uses out of that amazingly expensive little card as well haha. The only change I made to the initial setup was the headphones, I chose to use those old style yellow sony sport headphones and they are 5x better than the ones the MP3 player came with....and made me just that much happier with my purchase. All in all I do highly recommend this if you are an athlete that likes to listen to music. I dont use the armband because its just not comfortable for me personally when I lift weights so I just hang the MP3 player off of my drawstring on my shorts and its perfect (unless running...then it bounces on your tender spots so I use the waistband then).Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Best Product That I Ever Almost Smashed in Anger
Review: First, I just got this so I can't speak to durability issues. The headphones sound OK but are extremely uncomfortable and flimsy. However, the machine has a good sound even with my crappy walkman headphones, so I'm pretty happy w/ that. I haven't tried the FM radio & I probably never will. The player itself is simple and easy to navigate. All in all, this seems to be a solid little player, but there are flaws.
Most importantly, the software sucks - I spent HOURS trying to figure it out & the instructions are lacking. It's just not user-friendly (note: I'm using a PC, there is a seperate set of software for Macs, maybe those are better) If you're new to MP3 technology (as I am) and have nobody to help you - STAY AWAY. If you're good with this kind of stuff anyway, then you'll probably do fine with it. The telephone customer service people were helpful, but I called twice and each time got someone with a very thick accent (Indian?). They were courteous & knowledgeable (I think) but it was VERY hard for us to understand each other. Even though I know they were trying to help me I was still very frustrated. I think that they were frustrated at having to repeat everything four times too.
All in all, I've had it a week and have accidentally managed to get 10 songs on to the player (God alone knows how that happened) & I love using it at the gym. Someday I hope to get my moneys worth out of it, but we'll see. PS - It's 2 weeks later & I've finally got it working.
Rating:
Summary: Great for This Newbie
Review: This is the first MP3 player I've owned, and I couldn't be happier. I had all kinds of questions after reading these reviews, and the RIO cali seemed very robust. This might be my second review but I just plugged in a 256 mb SD expansion card, and zip, up it goes, working just fine. I use the wma format, and can now fit 11 albums on this thing. The headphones are very nice, but you can't loan it to anyone, you don't want their earwax on the headphones (ugh!) PLENTY of volume, though, drowns out my micromanaging boss quite well! Music transfer with the rio music manager is completely easy, I copy my cd's into my computer (no, I don't download mp3's) using windows media player and then rio music manager finds them and voila! Playlists are easy to set up and use. So until I know better, I'm completely satisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Great player--just know what you're getting
Review: This is a great little player. I've had it for about two months with no big problems. It is my first player, but my girlfriend has a S35, which seems like the precursor to this player, and here's what I've noticed:
- Rio's software is bad. Read other reviews for details. Bottom line is that it is proprietary, not very robust, and all-around inferior.
- The armband on the Cali is not as good as the S35. The Cali's is basically a velcro strip which you just slide the player onto. The S35 has an actual clip that seems to secure the player better.
- The control stick is annoying (to me). From other reviews, I see that some people like it and some don't. I myself find it hard to select what I want while I'm running--for example, the difference between moving it up (to pause) and moving it to the right (to go to the next track) is almost indistinguishable, especially while running. The S35 had a pad that I find easier to use.
So my two pieces of advice are: 1) take a look at the player before you buy and decide if you'll like the control stick. Depending on what kind of activity you'll be doing, it may or may not suit you. 2) Be aware that the software stinks.
If the style and extensive features win out over these drawbacks, you'll be a happy camper.
Rating:
Summary: Great customer service from the manufacture
Review: I got this player from Amazon. When it came, the carrying case is missing from the manufacture's package. I was going to return it to Amazon, but thought just give it a try by calling the manufacture. I called them on Monday telling them about the missing carrying case. After some verification (less than 1 min), they said that they are going to order a carrying case and ship to my house right away. For 6 days, I didn't receive any emails from them about the shipment, but on the next Monday, it arried by UPS. No hassel at all. I think Amazon has the best customer service you can get anywhere, but Rio's customer service is also unbeatable.
Rating:
Summary: Had problems after 3 days.
Review: I bought this thing on a Friday...It was simple to set up and use on my computer. You can use Rio manager, Napster, or Windows media player to upload song onto player. Everything was fine until Sunday night when I went to change songs on the Rio and I connected to the computer and it said I had no songs on the device. I had 32 songs on it. I wasn't able to upload any songs onto device, none of the audio players were listing songs that were on my device but they were reporting that most of the space on device was used up. I was not able to do anything. I tried to play device..seperate from computer...it stated that it was empty. I don't know what was up with that..I emailed Rio...got no response in 24 hrs....I took the Rio back to Best Buy and traded it in for an RCA Lyra that has 256mb space and was $10 cheaper. The Rio was faster on transferring music to the device than the RCA is. I liked the Rio Cali better than I like the RCA simply for ease of use(dials, display..etc) and faster uploading times...but not trusting these gadgets since I have has 2 MP3 players and have had problems with both over time I figured I might as well try the RCA with double the storage(and one AAA battery more). I bought a 2 year replacement plan with this device and I am almost certain that I will have to return this one within 2 years for something...since most things computer related seem to fail...and there is never enough support. My advice is make up your own mind...but buy and extended warranty! One more thing...RCA offers one year warranty...Rio offers 90 days. And oh yeah...I bought 3 songs from Napster and now they won't transfer properly to the RCA since its not compatible with Napster...I thought since these songs were saved on my computer they would be fine since Windows media player also works with the RCA but apparently not. Be careful and good luck.
Rating:
Summary: A little picky
Review: Overall I love this mp3 player.
Something less mentioned in the others reviews 1. Support multi-language: It even can show tradition Chinese on its screen. 2. Time countdown function Picky:
1. Only one color to choice from
2. Not supported by musicmatch
Rating:
Summary: Rio Cali doesn't disappoint
Review: Excellent mp3 player, one of the few to have mp3 player, FM tuner, expandable and backed by a reputable company. I purchased this over the SDIO because I read bad reviews on the SDIO as far as customer service and conscruction. iRiver, another mp3 player I was considering, is not expandable. This is a reasonable priced mp3 player that is perfect for someone with an active lifestyle. The FM tuner isn't as good as it should be though, I get static on it sometimes. The color selection could be better as well.
Read my in depth review at: http://www.epinions.com/content_129760464516
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